Substitute Teachers Lounge
Substitute Teachers Lounge
Oh, the Students You'll Meet!
Seven years of substitute teaching stories have taught me one crucial lesson: behind every student behavior is a complex inner world most teachers never glimpse. In this anniversary episode, I take you inside the minds of six distinct student archetypes you'll encounter in your classroom this year.
Listen as Marie reveals her anxiety about transitioning to high school and losing her hard-won social status. Experience Ben's internal pressure to maintain his athletic reputation through classroom disruption. Discover Julie's competitive academic mindset that drives her constant need for validation. Feel Fred's quiet desperation to simply fit in without being targeted by bullies. Understand Frank's calculated strategy to pass with minimal effort. And witness Gertrude's conviction that teachers are unfairly singling her out for discipline.
These first-person narratives aren't fictional composites—they represent real thought patterns I've observed across all grade levels during my substitute teaching career. By understanding what drives different student behaviors, we can respond with greater empathy and effectiveness. Whether you're dealing with the class clown, the withdrawn student, or the confrontational teenager, recognizing their underlying motivations transforms how you approach classroom management.
As we prepare for the upcoming school year (and my 300th episode next week!), I hope these perspectives help you see your students with fresh eyes. Remember that behind every challenging behavior is often fear, insecurity, or a genuine desire for connection. How might your teaching change if you could hear what your students are really thinking?
Hello, hello, hello. Greg Collins, substitute Teacher's Lounge man. Today I start my seventh year of this podcast. I can't believe it either. The six-year anniversary was last week. This is the start of the seventh year. Try something new in celebration, I am going to give you a perspective of various different students as we go back to school next week. I do have one sub job scheduled, ok, so excited about that, here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to give you the story of several students. It'll be. I was going to call it the third person, but I think the third person is when I say Kate did this, whereas the first person would be hi, my name is Kate, so this is going to be a first person thing and I hope you enjoy it. I put a lot of thought into it and it will help you deal with different types of students and I can guarantee you you're going to see all of these Substitute Teachers Loud.
Greg:My name is Marie and this is what's going through my head right now. I'm a little bit nervous about going to a new school. Sure, it's in the same area, but this year I go from eighth grade to high school. Now I know I was not the most popular student in middle school, but I certainly had my share of friends. Maybe I didn't sit at the coolest kids table in the cafeteria, but I certainly sat at a popular table. And now I'm nervous. I'm leaving a school where I was one of the oldest, coming to a school where I'll not only be one of the newest but, because of my birthday, possibly even the newest the youngest student in that high school. I hope that they treat us well. I know that things happen. You know. Maybe someday I'll have substitute teachers and I'll try to treat them with respect. Question is how will I treat other students who don't treat them with respect? So I guess I just need to get over my nervousness, realize that there's going to be some students that act like jerks all the time and just go from there.
Greg:Hey, my name is Ben. Here's the thoughts that are in my head. I'm going to be the best player on my 8th grade basketball team this year. I'm so excited about that. I know that, since I'm like that, I'll have to come across as the coolest kid in the school. I want to make sure I do that. I haven't decided yet if I'm going to pick on those that are lesser than me, or if I need to be nicer than that. I realize as an athlete, I need to be a little arrogant. I need to show off in front of everybody else. I need to make my friends laugh. Maybe I need to poke fun at the teacher every now and then, especially the substitute teacher. We're going to have fun when they're in the room, but that's just me. It goes without saying that when you're a prize athlete, with maybe a scholarship in my future, this is just how I'm going to have to act in school this year in the eighth grade.
Greg:Man, this is Julie and I'm so excited about being in the third grade this year. I bet I'm going to be the smartest kid in there. I bet I'm going to be the smartest kid in there. I can't wait to show off how much I know, how good I am at math. I hope the teachers and maybe I can talk the substitute teachers into sending me up to the whiteboard and have me compete with other students just so I can show them how smart I am. I want to make sure that all the teachers put me at the top of their list because I'm smarter than everybody else. I got to please my guardians. I want to make sure that I do everything I can to show off my talents a little bit. I want to get a good job someday. I think to do that I'm going to have to let everybody know what I'm capable of doing and what I will do this year as the school year progresses. I'm looking forward to it.
Greg:I'm Fred and this is my story. I don't know why I've never really felt like I fit in anywhere. I'm nervous about next year. It's going to be the same kids that I basically went to school with last year, but now we're in the seventh grade. So how's that going to change? Will they finally stop picking on me? Will they finally treat me? Will they finally treat me like I'm just another student? They don't have to be my friend. I would rather them just not be my enemy. I sure hope that they look at me with more respect than they did before. Maybe there's some things I can do to work on that. We shall see. But right now I'm pretty nervous. I want to fit in. I want to have maybe some humor for the cafeteria, maybe even a little for the classroom, if the teacher or the substitute teacher lets me get away with it. But I sure hope this nervousness goes away as the school year moves on.
Greg:This is Frank and I sure hope I get away with not doing much of anything this school year, just like I did last year Just sit in my seat, play games on my computer. Like I did last year Just sit in my seat play games on my computer. The teachers don't bother me too much about it. If I'm nice to this teacher, I'll still get a C. Why work that hard when I can pass the class with a C? A's and B's are overrated, man. But I can't wait to get to school and shoot. I'll say it. Maybe I'll be the laziest student in the room this year and a student that I won't make the teachers mad. I might make them frustrated. I hope that they'll come around and just kind of give me a grade for showing up every day.
Greg:I'm Gertrude and I will tell you this If the teacher picks on me, like a teacher did last year, I am ready to get my parents involved this time. I don't know why the teacher didn't like me this year. She had all her favorites. She picked on me all the time and just when I thought I might get a break because the substitute teacher was in there one day. I don't know what happened, but apparently the teacher left notes for her to keep an eye on me and then that substitute teacher picked on me too. I don't know what's going on, but it's all the teacher's fault. All right, guys, it's Greg, I'm back. That was just a few perspective of some things that I saw all of those last year at various different levels. I tried to pick names that were either really general or really unusual as to not, you know, offend anybody who might have those names. But I'm looking to go forward, to go back to the school year this year as a substitute teacher.
Greg:Remember, you're going to run into that student that's scared about a new school. Probably not anything you can do about that, but you can just let the student know that you're friendly, you're willing to talk about anything. Let me know if I can help you with any situation. Then you got the athlete dude man. He's just going to be that way. I remember a time when I had to call out an athlete and it almost cost him a start in a football game. That night he apologized to me. He knew he shouldn't have done what he did, but that comes up too.
Greg:I've had past podcasts where I referred to kids that thought they were smarter than everybody else and almost got into a fight with another kid who thought they were smarter than everybody else. It happens Some students are nervous about fitting in. You can see it on their face Again. Not necessarily anything you can do about that other than just kind of keep an eye on them, make sure nobody's picking on them, that kind of thing. You're going to run into lazy students at all the different class levels who just want to occupy a seat and nothing else.
Greg:And I've run into teachers who I thought were kind of picking on the students for some reason. And you know it's just me, but I kind of go out of my way to try to find a little bit of good in everybody. I hope people continue to find some good in me when I've done something that maybe is not the most popular thing. So that's it. Next week will be the 300th episode and it'll also be the first week of we go back to school. Now that's for most people. I think I did hear that one parent was telling me about a I think it was a sister who lived in another state and they went back to school on july 31st are you kidding me? But anyway, we're all back to school. The summer went fast. I enjoyed the summer. I'm even looking more forward to going back this fall.
